It must have seemed to Antonis Samaras as though he was entering the lion's den, said a commentator on Deutschland Radio before the Greek prime minister's visit to Berlin on Friday. As it was, the lion greeted him warmly.

Maybe Angela Merkel reserved her roar for when they had left behind the red carpet outside her chancellery and the strains of the brass band playing the Greek national anthem. But outwardly at least, the encounter between the economist and the cream-suited physicist was a successful display of friendly diplomacy.

Samaras was in Berlin for his first foreign visit as leader so that he could appeal for "breathing space" to pay back Greece's soaring debts. Merkel did not agree to or rule out any concessions, saying she would wait for a report by a troika of experts, due in the autumn, to see how much help Greece still required.

But she did seek to quell the growing calls – even from within her own government – for a Greek exit from the euro. "Greece is part of the eurozone and I also want Greece to stay a member of the eurozone," she said, putting straight anyone who believed she would accept a split.

Merkel said the euro was much more than just a currency. "It's an idea of a united Europe, an irreversible Europe, and that's why this will is so important." The remark, meant to appeal both to ordinary Germans and to politicians whose deep-seated romantic attachment to Europe has been waning, will make it harder for the Bundestag to move against her later.

Samaras said Greece was not asking for more money, just more time. "Greece will stick to its commitments and fulfil its obligations," he said. He also stressed the Greeks' misery and pride. "We're a very proud people and we don't like being dependent on borrowed money. We want to stand on our own two feet to get out of this crisis as soon as possible."

Earlier in the week there was a visit by the singer Nana Mouskouri, part of a Greek charm offensive. Samaras tried to win local sympathy by referring to an era of hyperinflation to which every German dreads returning. "If we went back to the drachma ... it would mean a drop in living standards by around 70%," he said. "What society or democracy would survive that? It would be like returning to the Weimar Republic."

The comments came in an interview with Germany's biggest selling newspaper, Bild, which throughout the crisis has regularly portrayed the Greeks in a negative light. In typically mischievous fashion, the paper drew up a mock declaration in which it asked Samaras to acknowledge the "exceptional demands that have been made on the German taxpayer with regards to the financial help for Greece", and to personally guarantee to pay back all Greek debts within the specified timeframes.

Samaras's willingness even to talk to the paper unleashed a wave of condemnation in the Greek press, which accused him of talking to the enemy. The newspaper Ta Nea asked: "Why did Samaras welcome those arsonists?" German newspapers noted that Samaras was staying at the Hilton on the Gendarmenmarkt, a marginally more modest option than the grand Hotel Adlon, the usual inn of choice for state leaders.